Means for controlling fluid leakage through joints and bearings



L. E. SHAW. MEANS FOR CONTROLLING FLUID LEAKAGE THROUGH JOINTS AND BEARINGS.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 16" I920. 1,426,41 6.

Patented. Au 22, 1922'.-

Louise; straw, or nasr onenen, new JEns iY,.Assio1von rowitn uiiis Morons Y INQ, or new YORK, 11. r n conroaerion or DELAWARE.

MEANS on oonrnormine FLUID LEAKAGE 'rnnouensoinrsnnn BE KG Application filed September 16, 1920. Serial No. 416,731.:

T all whom it may concern Be it known that 1, Louis E. SiiAw, a citi- Zen of the United States, and residing at East Orange, county of Essex, and State of New Jersey, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Means ior' Controlling Fluid Leakage Through Joints and Bearings, or which the following is a com plete specification illustrated in the accompanying drawings. I

The particular novel. features of my invention are more fully pointed out in the annexed claims. 5

My invention has the purpose of controls ling unavoidable fluid leakage at points where movable joints or shafts pass through hearings or sleeves from spaces of higher fluid pressure to spaces oflower fluid pressure and where it is impractical to provide the ordinary kind of stufiing boxes.

Among the many cases and devices to which my invention may be applicable are I particularly internal combustion engines of various types, as will be described presently.v

For instance, it is well known that leakages occur in the guide sleeves of the valve stems of internal combustion engines by I which outside air is able to pass along the valve stem into the intake pipe leading to the cylinders, thereby diluting the mixture and causing erratic running of the engine, especially at low speeds. I

To prevent such leakage of undesirable fluid through joints or guide sleevesI I propose to connect a portion of the interior of the guide sleeve to the point of higher pres- 4 i sure of fluid desired, so that when a leakage at such joints occurs, this desired fluid will leak through the joint to the point of lower pressure instead of the undesired outside air. 7 Thus, while fluid leakage, per se, is not pres vented by these means, yet, the fiuidcontained in the engine space having lower pressure will not be diluted or otherwise attested b 1 such leaka e, since onl' fluid ot'the same 3 e I quality enters through the leakage.

While my improvement is applicable to all kinds of joints 01 devices by which the flow of fluid is controlled, have illustrated my invention only as applied to internal combustion engines of two principal types, to wit, stationary cylinder engines and rotary cylinder engines. Particularly in the latter type of engine where it is necessary to utilize a portion of the stationary crankshaft for To overcome this defect,

n u ting'the combustible mixture, it be I c0m es essential to provide a j oint "free from leakage or outs de air; 1 w

in the accompanying drawings,

Figure 1 illustrates in longitudi-nall'verti cal'Is'e 'ctiona portion of a stationary cyli'n'fi,

deiinternal combustion engine and I Figure 2 illust rates in longitudinal vertical section a portion of a rotary cylinder en- I V 1 v A.

inder in which the pist On 2 operates in the conventional manner. 8 is the" intake valve" which passes throughthe cylinder casting in which for this'purpose, a guide sleeve 4 is disposed. Guide sleeves for valvestems are't',

, 1 I .65? Referring to Figure 1, ljis the enginecy'l- I old in the artand at the present day,most'of v the higher class internal combustion engines are provided with such sleeves which may be replaced when worn by the'valvestems.

.75 f 5, is the intake. duct which. leadsto the in- I take valve and 6 represents in more or less diagrammatical form the carbureter or vathrottle 'valv'e ior' controlling the I mixture admitted to the engine isshown at 8.} 3

leakages occur between valve stem 9 and slightly worn,especia1ly in caseswhe're the throttlevalve 8 isparti'ally closed, in which instance, a pressure exists in intakeupipe 5 considerably lower than atmospheric pressure -andthe pressure existing in the/car 'porizer; which may be of any suitable type known in the art and which is attached'by I means of flange 7 to the intake duct 5., The

bureter outside of thrOttl'e S. Thesmall I amount of combustible"mixture thus "ad I initted by the throttle' valve thus"con -f siderably diluted by the leakage of air past;

the valve stem, which" causes an erratic running of thefengine'at' such slow speeds,

' I provide midway between the ends of sleeve 4, an annular chamber lO'which'completely surrounds the valve stem and, from which a "number oi transverse holes 11 leadthrough lthe walls of sleeve l. In thecylinder castingispro vided a; chamber 12which runs in parallel to, the intake duct 5; The sleeve portion],

containin-g holes ll is located within chamber 12 at one end thereof. "The otherend of-chainber 12 'terminates in intake pipe 13 at a point 14 outsideflof throttle 8. This terminal 141s preferably located a "suitable my this is prevented by the present arrangedistance above the bottom portion of intake pipe 13 in order to avoid liquid fuel which might collect in the lower portion of this pipe, due to the so-called loading of the engine,v from accidentally entering chamber 12 which might occur if opening 14 were located at the bottom of the pipe.

Thus, in case the sleeve 4 has been worn by the valve stem so thatoutside air might tend to leak intothe combustion chamber,

ment, because in the present case, the suction of the engine willdraw in through the leaky portions of the sleeve 4 combustible mixture from chamber 12 by way of holes 11' and annular chamber 10, this mixture being supplied from the carbureter intake pipe 13 through opening 14. v

The manner in which my improvement may be applied to rotary cylinder engines is shown in Figure 2 where it may be ar ranged, for instance, as follows:

15 represents the stationary crank shaft wi-th the crank pin 16, on which shaft the cylinder casing 17 revolves for instance, by means of ball bearing 18. Only a portion of'one cylinder 19 is shown in the drawings. The intake conduit for this cylinder is shown at 20. It connects at 26 with the rotary casing 17 which at this point is provided with an inner annular chamber 21. The crank shaft 15 is hollow, as shown at 22 and the carbureter which is diagrammatically indicated at 23, is fixed to'the outer end of the crank shaft in such manner that the combustible mixture produced by thecarbureter may enter the boring 22 through an opening 24 provided in the cy lindrical wall of shaft 15 A similar boring 25 is provided in the crank shaft wall at the point where, it is surrounded by annular chamber 21 so that there is thus established a: passage forthe combustible mixture from the carbureter through opening or port 24, shaft" boring 22, port 25, annular chamber 21, coupling26, intake conduit 20, to t ie intake valve 27 andthence to cylinder 19. 'To

suitablythrottle the miziture when desired, A a throttle tube 28 is provided inside of shaft boring 22, which snugly fits to the wall of the boring,but= is permitted to be oscillated therein by means of throttle lever 29 at tachedv to the outer end of tube 28 which protrudes beyond shaft 15 for that purpose.

Tube 28 is'closedat its outer end by means ofgplugfil). A port 31 registering with port L41 is provided in the wall of the tube 28,

this port being of suiiicient peripheral length so as to maintainv full communicationbetween the interior of tube 28 and the carbureter 23 throughout the entire angle through which throttle arm 29 may, be rocked. Throttle tube 28 is provided with I asecond part; 32 which registers with port 25 provided in crank shaft 15, this tube port, however, being of sufficiently small peripheral length, so that when throttle lever 29 is operated, the communication between interior of tube 28 and annular chamber may gradually be closed.

Flincc the cylinder casing 17 rotates on a shaft 15, it becomes necessary to. provide a ameter than the outside diameter of'shaft if to p rmit the insertion of two rings 34, each of which is provided with an internal annuiarchamber equivalent to annular chamber 10 in Figure 1, these rings having a running fit on shaft'15 and being con nected together at their flange portions ((l by means of transverse bolts 37, of which only one is shown in the drawings. By this construction, these two rings 3% constitute a unit which is held against a shoulder 38 provided in chamber 21 of casing portion 33, a washer 39 of cork or other suitable material, being provided at this point to prevent leakage of air into chamber 21. The ring unit is pressed against shoulder by means of a ring 40 which bears through a washer i1 similar to washer 39 against the flange of the other ring. Suflicient friction is established by these means to cruise-the rotating casing to take along the two rings 34 so that there will be no wear.

on washers 39 and ll, but at the same time casing portion in case slight strains occur during the operation of the engine, or slight wear in hallbearin 's 18 occurs.

Referring new again to annular chambers.

35 of rings 3e, these chambers each are in. line with a boring in shaft which.

correspond to the transverse holes, 11 in Figure 1. In line with each ofthese holes port ll cut into the tubular throttle of su fiicient peripheral lengthito ish communication between the interior of 20 tuie and annular chan bers-35 at any of the gas mixture established may float on rings 31 angle to winch the throttle lever 29 may be occurred between 34+. and. shaft 15 which otherwise might cause a leakage of,

Thus, incase slight wear shouldJhave I control such undesired fluid leakages may be employed as well in case of supplying liquids through joints or bearings of similar character where it is desired to prevent outside air or other fluid from entering through leaks which may occur in the joints.

I claim v 1. Means for preventing in internal combustion engines, into space carrying combustible mixture of pressure lower than atmospheric, comprising a tubular member extending from the outside into the low pressure mixture space, an element disposed within the tubular member and forming the joint therewith to be protected from leakage, said tubular member havin an annular space midway between its en s which surrounds said inner element, means for producing cdmbustible mixture at or near atmospheric pressure and means for connecting said annular space with said source of combustible mixture.

the manner in which.

air leakage through joints 2. In a rotary cylinder engine a fixed hollow crank shaft havlng ports leading from its interior to the outside, a cylinder casing rotating thereonand means for supplying combustible mixture through said hollow shaft and said; ports to the cylinder casing portionimmediately surrounding the crank shaft, of 1 a pair of spaced rings coupled together and rot'atably fitted on said shaft and "disposed between the latter and said surrounding casi'ngportion and a, having one 'of said shaft ports located be I tween them, each of said rings being ro-- tatablewith said casmg'and having an annular recess mthebearing surface ad acent port for each of said recesses adapted to permanently communicate therewith, said i to the shaft, said shaft having an auxiliary in surrounding casing, portion having an annular chamber located in alinement with the space between said rings and with the shaft port adjacent to the rings, to permit combustible -mixture supplied to said hollow shaft to pass into the-surrounding rotating cylinder casing portion, packing means for securing agas tight joint between said rings and said surrounding cylinder casing and a tubular throttle in the interior of said shaft for controlling the gas'mixture supp'ly from i said shaft ports to-said cylinder casing portion.

Louis E. SHAW; q i 

